


What is Due

by bastet



Category: Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
Genre: Gen, Original Character(s), outsider pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:27:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21826693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bastet/pseuds/bastet
Summary: I am charged with telling you all about Mrs. Bertram, our neighbor.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	What is Due

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JuneLoveland](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuneLoveland/gifts).



My dear Sally,

I wrote a quick note to you last week, and I do not tease, I have not forgotten, that I am charged with telling you all about Mrs. Bertram, our neighbor. 

The lady, for that title she merits by her appearance and manner, in every way most civil, lives alone with a servant. She is a widow, I believe, of some years. I say that she lives alone, for she often keeps no company, but just as often she has a brother or sister to visit, about which I will say more shortly. She is not excessively beautiful, but her face has an expression of such peace and such strength of character that it is always pleasant to look upon. Well might we all be peaceful, living in such a place! Her cottage is so admirably placed and she keeps such good care of everything that it feels a palace instead of the meager dwelling it really is. 

I first learned of her from Charlotte. She was walking in the meadows and became lost, and came across the cottage. When she informed Mrs. Bertram of her situation (no doubt "I am lost and will never see home again," as she has a tendency to the dramatic), that good lady brought her inside for tea. 

Charlotte described her cottage in the most animated fashion. Inside, she said, were more wonderful things than she could imagine. The lady's brother is a captain in the Navy and he brings home anything of interest that he finds. I have visited since to see for myself. Of course our home is full of modern decorations--but Mrs. Bertram's cottage is nearer to being a museum than anything else, for all it is so cozy. She has insects from South America preserved under glass, pressed flowers of remarkable beauty, shells of the purest pink and white you ever saw. Not content merely to display such objects, she also holds a remarkable amount of information about each--you would imagine yourself in a lecture hall in Oxford to hear her speak. 

I lose the thread of my story. After tea, Mrs. Bertram brought her back by the main road, and gave her many gentle hints about how to avoid losing her way in the future. There was no doubt that Charlotte remembered all that she said, and yet also that she would find herself "lost" again before two days were out, because she wanted so to see Mrs. Bertram again. 

I was not in to meet that good lady when she first delivered Charlotte home, but after the third time I understood that my daughter had trespassed upon her hospitality I felt I had to present myself and apologize for Charlotte's boldness. You know that she is the sweetest of girls, and because of her birth she does not always have the friends that she ought. I tried to hint gently to her that it might be that Mrs. Bertram did not want her company every day, but it was no use, so I went myself on a visit. 

I admit I was somewhat expecting an aged matron and not the woman of thirty-five years or so who greeted me when her maid showed me in to her parlor. She was so gracious that I felt no unease, and directly after pleasantries I entered into my errand. 

"I understand my daughter has been importuning you most terribly," I said. 

She flushed with distress. "Oh! No! It could never be an imposition, etc." 

I could not help but feel her words to be heartfelt as she sounded genuinely distraught, but I said that she was too kind, and that Charlotte would reduce her visits to once a week at the most, for Mrs. Bertram must have other concerns. 

She said again that she insisted it was no trouble, Charlotte a lovely girl, her company so appreciated.

I became a bit emotional at this point. "Mrs. Bertram," I said. “I do not know if the neighbors have told you--” I could not bring myself to speak of Charlotte’s mother to such a person, who seemed as innocent as a maid.

“They have told me,” said she, “One or two things about--Charlotte’s late mother--” She was as abashed as I, afraid to discompose me, I think, rather than embarrassed by the subject. 

“The neighborhood has not been welcoming to Charlotte,” I continued. “And though she can never equal her peers, those who have been born in more suitable circumstances, I do so wish for her to have friends.”

“We must all have friends,” she said. “Once, I--” Here she colored slightly, and stopped, and a moment later said, "Please do not stop her visiting me." I must have looked ready to make another protest, because she added, “If you cannot believe that I take joy in her company, then believe that the act itself, of making a lonely girl feel more at home, may be one that is-- especially important to me.”

I was quite overcome--you know my tendency to weep at such ordinary kindness--and I took her hand, pressed it in mine, and could say nothing. 

Since that day, there has been regular intercourse between her home and ours. When she is not well, as she often is not, Charlotte's visits are sometimes shorter, and this relation teaches her how to be a quiet companion when it is required. 

When Mrs. Bertram's brother, Captain Price, is in residence, he also keeps company with us. He charges Charlotte to be his first mate, and commands her to keep a lookout at various windows, and fetch various objects, and in short, delights her endlessly with the feeling of being quite necessary to the running of his "ship."

You must be wondering--I know you!--if I am hopeful of introducing Mrs. Bertram to you one day in a manner more familiar than would now be possible. As of now I have no hopes. It is enough to have a friend. 

Charlotte notes that now that she has gained her lieutenancy, her next dress must be quite a bit longer, and she requests that it have gold braid, which her captain deems the most fitting of decoration. She sends her love to her aunt, and I remain

Your most devoted brother,  
Charles

**Author's Note:**

> I was very charmed by William's dream of having a cottage to himself and Fanny when they grew up and I also loved the many parts of the book when Fanny is allowed to delve into some wonder of the natural world. This is the result.


End file.
